Northwestern Arkansas Research Articles

Mesocarnivores in residential yards: influence of yard features on the occupancy, relative abundance, and overlap of coyotes, grey fox, and red fox

Context As conversion of natural areas to human development continues, there is a lack of information about how developed areas can sustainably support wildlife. While large predators are often extirpated from areas of human development, some medium-bodied mammalian predators (hereafter, mesocarnivores) have adapted to co-exist in human-dominated areas. Aims How human-dominated areas such as residential yards are used by mesocarnivores is not well understood. Our study aimed to identify yard and landscape features that influence occupancy, relative abundance and spatial-temporal overlap of three widespread mesocarnivores, namely, coyote (Canis latrans), grey fox (Urocyon cineroargenteus) and red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Methods Over the summers of 2021 and 2022, we deployed camera-traps in 46 and 96 residential yards, spanning from low-density rural areas (<1 home per km2) to more urban areas (589 homes per km2) in north-western Arkansas, USA. Key results We found that mesocarnivore occupancy was marginally influenced by yard-level features as opposed to landscape composition. Fences reduced the occupancy probability of coyotes, although they were positively associated with the total area of potential shelter sites in a yard. We found that relative abundance of grey fox was highest in yards with poultry, highlighting a likely source of conflict with homeowners. We found that all three species were primarily nocturnal and activity overlap between the species pairs was high. Conclusions Thus, these species may be using spatio-temporal partitioning to avoid antagonistic encounters and our data supported this, with few examples of species occurring in the same yards during the same 24-h period. Implications As the number of residential yards continues to grow, our results suggested that there are ways in which our yards can provide resources to mesocarnivores and that homeowners also have agency to mitigate overlap with mesocarnivores through management of their yard features.

THE COCCIDIA SPECIES PFEIFFERINELLA ELLIPSOIDES EXHIBITS SPATIAL AND SPECIES-SPECIFIC VARIATION IN PREVALENCE AMONG FRESHWATER SNAILS.

Freshwater snails are commonly studied within the context of their role as intermediate hosts for digenetic trematodes. However, there are fundamental data deficiencies related to our understanding of directly transmitted parasites, such as coccidia, for freshwater snails. Because variation in coccidia pathogenicity and transmission among snail species likely has major impacts on snail community structure, we aimed to investigate the spatial distribution and prevalence of coccidia in several freshwater snail species throughout the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains ecoregions in Arkansas. We opportunistically collected 220 freshwater snails from 24 Ozark sites in summer 2022 and scanned fecal slides for the presence of coccidia. In summer 2023, we surveyed an additional 146 snails from 19 Ouachita sites. To test for apparent interactions among coccidia and trematodes, we scanned feces from a subset of snails (Physa and Planorbella in the Ozarks) that did not have concurrent trematode infections and from those that did. We observed oocysts that morphologically conformed to Pfeifferinella ellipsoides in 2 of the 9 snail taxa from 7 of the 43 sites. Planorbella trivolvis was infected at 2 of 6 sites in the Ozarks and 0 of 5 sites in the Ouachitas. Physa species were infected at 6 of 14 sites in the Ozarks and 0 of 12 sites in the Ouachitas. In the Ozarks, Pl. trivolvis had an overall prevalence of 0.13 (6 of 47), whereas individuals in the genus Physa had an overall prevalence of 0.08 (8 of 97). Our chi-square and Fisher exact tests revealed no significant evidence for trematode-coccidia competition or synergism within the two snail species. There were no other species infected, and we did not observe any coccidia in the snails from the Ouachitas. Our survey of 366 snails among 9 taxa and 43 sites represents the largest survey for freshwater snail coccidia to date and indicates that both Pl. trivolvis and Physa spp. may be primary hosts and/or reservoir hosts for Pf. ellipsoides in freshwater snail communities. The highly aggregated distribution of Pf. ellipsoides in northwestern Arkansas requires further investigation. Our results led to proposal of several hypotheses for additional research, including questions regarding the variation of coccidia host specificity and virulence.

The effects of landscape and yard features on mammal diversity in residential yards within Northwest Arkansas, USA

The human footprint is rapidly expanding, and wildlife habitat is continuously being converted to human residential properties. Surviving wildlife that reside in developing areas are displaced to nearby undeveloped areas. However, some animals can co-exist with humans and acquire the necessary resources (food, water, shelter) within the human environment. This ability to coexist may be particularly true when development is low intensity, as in residential suburban yards. Yards are individually managed “greenspaces” that can provide a range of food (e.g., bird feeders, compost, gardens), water (bird baths and garden ponds), and shelter (e.g., brush-piles, outbuildings) resources and are surrounded by varying landscape cover. To evaluate which residential landscape and yard features influence the richness and diversity of mammalian herbivores and mesopredators; we deployed wildlife game cameras throughout Northwestern Arkansas, USA in 46 residential yards in summer 2021 and 96 yards in summer 2022. We found that mesopredator diversity had a negative relationship with fences and was positively influenced by the number of bird feeders present in a yard. Mesopredator richness increased with the amount of forest within 400 m of the camera. Herbivore diversity and richness were positively correlated to the area of forest within 400 m surrounding yard and by garden area within yards, respectively. Our results suggest that while landscape does play a role in the presence of wildlife in a residential area, homeowners also have agency over the richness and diversity of mammals using their yards based on the features they create or maintain on their properties.

Exploratory spatial analysis of food insecurity and diabetes: an application of multiscale geographically weighted regression

ABSTRACT Both food insecurity and diabetes are important public health concerns. For example, diabetes remained a leading cause of mortality both in the United States (U.S.) and globally during the past decade. Meanwhile, an estimated 11% of households endured food insecurity in the U.S. in 2021 with higher rates in the Southeast region. While significant advancements have occurred in better understanding food insecurity, its relationship with diabetes has yielded mixed results. Due to these inconsistent findings, a better understanding of how food insecurity may be associated with diabetes, particularly at the county-level, can improve population health and well-being. This study advanced such an area by undertaking a cross-sectional observational study for the Southeastern region of the U.S. (e.g. Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee with 319 counties as the unit of analysis), an area disproportionately impacted by both food insecurity and diabetes. The overall design applied the socio-ecological perspective within a multiscale geographically weighted regression framework or MGWR. MGWR is a recent development and a more advanced approach which allowed adjustments for geographic space and scale. Results showed food insecurity (estimate of 0.28) was positively associated with diabetes but the relation varied in magnitude and significance across space (range of −0.10 to 1.19). That is, food insecurity exhibited a strong, positive association for northwestern Arkansas, a mild association for central Mississippi and Tennessee, and a weaker association for southern Alabama and eastern Tennessee. Households without internet access also exhibited a positive association (estimate of 0.15), as did convenience stores per thousand (estimate of 0.12). These findings add value to our understanding of how geographic space and scale matter when examining health. Public health practitioners can recognize such variations when devising targeted interventions for food insecurity and diabetes care.

Early Records Suggest a Broader Historic Range of the Ozark Big-Eared Bat (Corynorhinus townsendii ingens)

The endangered Ozark big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii ingens) is currently found in north-central and northwestern Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma. Although historically known to be present in 2 counties on the southwestern border of Missouri, this species has not been observed in Missouri since 1971. A female Ozark big-eared bat specimen in the museum collection of Harvard University was reportedly collected in Arkansas, possibly in 1858. An investigation of the documentation associated with this and other specimens collected by the same individual suggests that this Ozark big-eared bat may have been collected on the Osage River in west-central Missouri in 1853. Another early naturalist reported the presence of what may have been Ozark big-eared bats in this general vicinity in 1854, providing additional support for their potential presence along the Osage River in Missouri at this time. Taken together, these historic reports suggest that the Ozark big-eared bat may have been present throughout the entire Missouri Ozarks during the mid-1800s and that a significant contraction of this species' range has occurred since then.

Exploring the influence of Late Mississippian to Middle Pennsylvanian tectonics on sediment transport through detrital zircon geochronology, southwestern Kansas and northwestern Arkansas

This study explores the influence of the Alleghanian-Ouachita-Marathon Orogeny and Ancestral Rocky Mountains (ARM) uplifts on sediment dispersal in the Carboniferous through sandstone compositions and detrital zircon provenance analysis. We focus on Upper Mississippian to Middle Pennsylvanian siliciclastic intervals in two areas: (1) the Hugoton Embayment in southwestern Kansas, where six samples of Upper Mississippian and Lower Pennsylvanian sandstone were collected from two boreholes and (2) the Arkoma Shelf and foreland basin in northwestern Arkansas, where nine samples were collected from Lower through Middle Pennsylvanian outcrops. We report 1544 new concordant ages, 582 ages from Kansas core and 962 ages from Arkansas outcrop samples. UPb age spectra are characterized by major Grenville (900–1300 Ma) and Taconic-Acadian (350–500 Ma) age clusters and minor components of older age groups, suggesting a persistent source in the Appalachians tied to the Alleghanian orogeny. However, by Early Pennsylvanian, the Hugoton Embayment samples see the Appalachian source partially replaced by Yavapai-Mazatzal (1800–1600 Ma) and Granite-Rhyolite (1550–1300 Ma) grains, major components of the local basement, that suggest contributions from nearby ARM uplifts. In contrast, contributions from midcontinent basement sources are limited in the Arkoma Shelf and foreland basin samples. Sandstone composition data are also consistent across all Arkoma Shelf and Upper Mississippian Hugoton Embayment samples; whereas, Lower Pennsylvanian Hugoton samples show increases in feldspar and volcanic lithic grains, consistent with input from local midcontinent age provinces. Comparison with published data suggests a similar change in provenance, from extraregional to local sediment sources, is observed across western Laurentia where ARM deformation was active. Together, new and published data support development of a major transcontinental sediment dispersal system in the Late Mississippian, controlled by Alleghanian orogenesis on the eastern Laurentian margin; however, by the Early Pennsylvanian this system was disrupted by development of the ARM.

Early Carboniferous (Mississippian) intertwining sediment dispersal network across the Laurentian cratonic interior

Early Carboniferous (Mississippian) strata across the Laurentian cratonic interior record the transition from a stable carbonate platform, supporting a broad epicontinental sea, to a series of widespread, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic successions. As the southern terminal sink, the Mississippian succession preserved on the southern Midcontinent provides evidence and constraints for sediment dispersal patterns. This paper presents the first comprehensive U–Pb detrital-zircon geochronological record of all known Mississippian sandstones from the southern Ozark Dome of southern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas. This study identifies the provenance of these Mississippian sandstones and establishes their sediment dispersal networks across the cratonic interior. Results show that a major provenance shift occurred between Lower and Upper Mississippian strata. The Lower Mississippian Bachelor Sandstone was sourced from the Laurentian craton, while Upper Mississippian and basal Pennsylvanian sandstones were sourced through recycling of upper Proterozoic and lower Paleozoic sandstones within the Laurentian craton to the north, the unroofing of the Appalachian orogenic belt from the east-northeast, and potentially some direct contribution from uplifted Precambrian basement along the Transcontinental Arch to the northwest. By combining previously published detrital zircon data from Laurentia, we propose that the Mississippian sedimentation reflects an intertwining dispersal system associated with multiple sources. Sediments derived from all three potential sources were merged and transported southward across Laurentia.

Relating topography and soil phosphorus distribution in litter‐amended pastures in Arkansas

AbstractPoultry producers in northwestern Arkansas fertilize pastures with litter, leading to excessive P buildup on surface soils with risk of contaminating nearby surface waters. Information on the influence of pasture topography on P runoff is limited. Objectives were to assess soil P and P index status in pastures, quantify topographic influence on P distribution, and generate high‐resolution P maps for site‐specific nutrient management. Soil samples were collected from a commercial farm in a grid design and analyzed for Mehlich‐3 P (STP), and dissolved reactive P (DRP). Gburek (GPI) and Sims P indices (SPI) were calculated by considering soil erosion and runoff potentials, STP, and P fertilizer application rate and source. A machine‐learning algorithm, based on a random forest model, quantified spatial relationships of STP, DRP, and P indices with topography. The study area was highly variable in topography and soil P levels. High‐slope areas bordering a stream and flat areas with lower elevation had greater GPI and SPI. Topography explained up to 50% of variation in STP and DRP distribution and >70% variation in GPI and SPI, which was linked to litter application sites and cattle feeding sites. Key terrain attributes for STP, DRP, GPI, and SPI distribution were elevation, slope position, slope height, valley depth, and valley bottom flatness. Predicted P maps illustrated areas along a stream had lower STP and DRP levels, but greater GPI and SPI. This analysis linked topographic relationships with P distribution, as topography controls the flow and distribution of water and influences farm management practices; therefore, future P management strategies should explicitly incorporate topographic risks.

Earthworm differences among mound positions in native prairies in the Ozark Highlands

Mounded, tallgrass prairie ecosystems are a unique, endangered ecosystem due to severe disturbance for agricultural production and/or urban expansion. Limited research exists on earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) dynamics in mounded, tallgrass prairies, particularly in the Ozark Highlands region of northwestern Arkansas. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of soil moisture regime (SMR), landscape position (LP), and sample date on earthworm densities in the top 20 cm of soil in two mounded, native prairies in the Ozark Highlands region of northwestern Arkansas. Juvenile and total earthworm densities were five times greater (P < .05) in the udic- and aquic-inter-mound combinations than any other SMR-LP combination in October 2018 and May 2019, respectively. Adult earthworm densities were two times greater (P < .05) in the aquic-inter-mound at Searles Prairie than any other SMR-LP combination in either mounded prairie. Juvenile earthworm densities were three times greater (P < .05) in May 2019 than in May 2018 at Chesney Prairie, but adult and total earthworm density did not change over the same period of time. Combined across all data, juvenile and total earthworm densities were positively correlated (P < .05) with moisture (r = .33 and .34, respectively), Ca (r = .20 and .21, respectively), and Fe (r = .53 and .52, respectively), but negatively correlated (P < .05) with Mn (r = –.34 and –.32, respectively). Results of this study extended overall understanding of earthworm population distributions and dynamics in mounded prairie systems.

Detrital Zircon Geochronologic Constraints on Patterns and Drivers of Continental‐Scale Sediment Dispersal in the Late Mississippian

AbstractThe Late Mississippian was a critical time interval in Laurentia's history, marking the transition from carbonate deposition on a stable platform, during the Early to Middle Mississippian, to extensive clastic deposition in the Pennsylvanian to Permian associated with the Laurentia‐Gondwana collision. In the U.S. midcontinent, Chesterian incised valley fill (IVF) systems that developed within a carbonate‐dominated platform provide new insights on the patterns and drivers of continental‐scale sediment dispersal during this transitional period. Here we report 1,037 new concordant detrital zircon U‐Pb ages from nine samples of Uppper Mississippian sandstone collected from cores in southwestern Kansas and from outcrops in northwestern Arkansas. The sandstones are characterized by major age clusters corresponding to the Grenville (900–1,300 Ma) and Taconic‐Acadian (350–500 Ma) orogenies and minor older age groups, suggesting derivation from the Appalachian region. A compilation of published detrital zircon ages from Early Paleozoic sandstones as well as from temporally equivalent units across North America, including from the Appalachian Foreland Basin, Illinois Basin, Arkoma Shelf, Ozark Dome, Black Warrior Basin, and Grand Canyon, suggests Chesterian sandstone age distributions are distinct from those of older sandstones and are consistent with a change to a dominantly Appalachian age signature that was roughly synchronous across the continent. Together, the new and compiled ages support development of a generally E‐W transcontinental sediment dispersal system in the Late Mississippian that was likely controlled by orogenesis on the eastern Laurentian margin, while local variations in the age signatures appear to be controlled by N‐S drainage networks, influenced by glacioeustatic fluctuations and local structures.

The Devil and the Deep Blue Lake: How Natural Area Acquisition and Stewardship Helps Protect the Major Drinking Reservoir in Northwestern Arkansas

The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission (ANHC)'s 1225-ha Devil's Eyebrow Natural Area (DENA), located at the northern end of Beaver Lake along Indian Creek, Butler Creek, and their tributaries, is an ecologically significant site in the Ozark Highlands that falls primarily within the Beaver Lake Watershed, deemed the number-one priority watershed by Arkansas's Unified Watershed Assessments and Restoration Priorities Report due to its designation as an extraordinary water resource, the presence of imperiled aquatic species in the watershed, its role as one of the most important supplies of drinking water in the state, and its status as both an impaired water body and an interstate “water of concern.” Beaver Lake supplies drinking water to more than 420,000 people, one in eight Arkansans, and industries including the Walmart Home Office in northwest Arkansas. DENA protects 5 km of Beaver Lake frontage and 7.5 km of critical tributaries in the watershed and is part of a broader interconnected Conservation Corridor that includes Nature Conservancy preserves, Army Corps of Engineers property surrounding Beaver Lake, Hobbs State Park Conservation Area in Arkansas, and the Mark Twain National Forest and Roaring River State Park in Missouri. Water quality protection and improvement has been a critical component driving the funding of DENA, as well as both a direct and indirect focus of much of ANHC's ongoing restoration efforts on the property. Road improvements to decrease sedimentation, reforestation efforts, and feral swine removal have all served to improve water quality in the watershed. A project to improve glade habitat for several species of greatest conservation need through cedar removal has had the added benefit of providing aquatic habitat structure for fish and improving angling opportunities in Beaver Lake. This project serves as a model for conservation partnerships in critical watersheds and also highlights how efforts to directly improve water quality, as well as efforts with indirect benefits to watersheds (conceived primarily to restore terrestrial habitats), can have far-ranging benefits for ecosystems, imperiled species, and stakeholders. Here we present how the ANHC and its conservation partners have successfully used various strategies to build local support, leverage funding, engage the public, and conduct meaningful conservation at a regional scale.

In Between Two Worlds: Past Perspectives on the Neosho Phase (A.D. 1400-1650)

The Neosho phase (A.D. 1400-1650) in northeastern Oklahoma, northwestern Arkansas, southwestern Missouri, and southeastern Kansas represents Late Pre-contact peoples engaged in widespread trade from the Plains to groups in the southeastern United States. The phase has confounded researchers since its de.ftnition, although debates mainly concern one of two main questions concerning the identity of Neosho peoples: origins and cultural af.ftliation. Most research to date has focused simply on the question of emergence. Early in these debates, Orr (1946) suggested that Neosho peoples represented one or more plains-oriented groups that had migrated into the area, while Wyckoff (1980) and others later argued that Neosho represented a dissolution of the Arkansas River Valley Caddo- Mississippian system. Numerous issues have inhibited progress in defending either of these models, including a dependence upon research methods that rely upon descriptive cultural trait lists, a reluctance to contextualize and emplace Neosho peoples within the region at large, and even the initial de.ftnition of the phase and culture area. This article represents the beginning stages of my dissertation research and will focus on discussion of the Neosho phase, including previous research, issues and debates, and ways to resolve and reinvigorate research in this area and time period.

Spatial Soil Nutrient–Plant–Herbivore Linkages: A Case Study from Two Poultry Litter–Amended Pastures in Northwest Arkansas

Core Ideas Analysis of soils and forages across landscapes aids in targeted nutrient management. Soil and plant relationships were identified on two beef farms and spatial scales. Higher soil nutrients favored bermudagrass growth compared with tall fescue. Grid sampling size impacts soil test values and site management. Feeding and grazing strategies affect nutrient excretion and nutrient loss spatially. Analysis of soils, forages, and landscapes can aid in targeting management of poultry litter and forage practices consistent with livestock production and water quality goals in watersheds with nutrient imbalances, such as in pastures of northwestern Arkansas. Objectives were to describe spatial relationships of soil and plant characteristics in litter‐amended pastures on two beef cow–calf farms in northwestern Arkansas. Fields were grid‐sampled for standing biomass, ground cover, soil nutrients, and vegetative composition at two sampling scales (14 and 60 m grids) for correlation analyses. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to identify relationships between soil and forage spatially and at two scales. For both scales on Farm A, positive correlations were found among exchangeable K, Ca, and Mg with organic matter. Correlations between pairs of soil variables were likely due to accumulated litter‐derived nutrients. Bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.] cover was positively correlated with soil test P, dissolved reactive P, and K for the 14‐m sampling grid on Farm A, whereas tall fescue [Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) Darbysh.] cover was negatively correlated with those soil variables on Farm B. This suggests that higher soil nutrient accumulations favored bermudagrass growth. Feeding and grazing strategies influence the amount and spatial pattern of nutrient excretion, which, in turn, affect the risk of nutrient loss and fertilizer requirements. These results document the influence of grid sampling size on soil test values for site management. Future GIS‐based studies will identify forage, soil, and terrain attributes in relation to P index mapping.

Methane source attribution in a U.S. dry gas basin using spatial patterns of ground and airborne ethane and methane measurements

An intensive coordinated airborne and ground-based measurement study was conducted in the Fayetteville Shale in northwestern Arkansas during September and October 2015 to compare and explain potential discrepancies between top-down and bottom-up estimates of regional natural gas (NG) methane (CH4) emissions. In situ mobile downwind measurements are used to document the ethane to methane enhancement ratios (ERs) in emission plumes from NG operations in the region. Enhancement ratios are low (&amp;lt;2% for 87% of NG sources sampled) in this dry gas-producing region and normally distributed around 1.3% in the western half of the study area. A few sampled landfills emitted CH4 but no ethane (C2H6). Sampling drives around large chicken farms, prevalent in the region, did not detect significant downwind CH4 enhancements. In situ airborne measurements of C2H6 and CH4 from area-scale surveys over and downwind of the region documented the resulting ERs from a mix of CH4 sources. Based on these measurements, we show that on average during the measurement windows 85–95% of total CH4 emissions in the western half of the Fayetteville Shale originated from NG sources, which agrees well with bottom-up estimates from the same field study. Lower mixing ratios measured over the eastern half of the region did not support the ER analysis due to the low signal-to-noise on C2H6 measurements.

Teens and the New Religious Landscape: Essays on Contemporary Young Adult Fiction ed. by Jacob Stratman

Reviewed by: Teens and the New Religious Landscape: Essays on Contemporary Young Adult Fiction ed. by Jacob Stratman Alisa Clapp-Itnyre (bio) Teens and the New Religious Landscape: Essays on Contemporary Young Adult Fiction. Edited by Jacob Stratman. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2018. Teens and the New Religious Landscape is a welcome collection of essays addressing a topic that has often been excluded by academic scholars—religion—and its reemergence in contemporary young adult literature. Jacob Stratman is well qualified to lead the effort: not only has he edited a previous collection of essays, Lessons in Disability: Essays on Teaching with Young Adult Literature (2016), but he has also written about the Christian tradition in American literature, as in "Harriet Beecher Stowe's Preachers of the Swamp: Dred and the Jeremiad" in Christianity and Literature (2008), and is supported by "administrators, my colleagues, and my students" at his home institution, John Brown University, a private Christian college in northwestern Arkansas ("Acknowledgments"). This volume is not celebrating the reemergence of religion in YA texts, however, as much as it is complicating that reemergence. Collectively, the essays interrogate the concept of postsecularism itself and the various contemporary YA novels that promote a religion even as they acknowledge that such a religion may be secularized beyond any orthodox creed. Beginning with a useful introduction by Stratman exploring the landscape of YA fiction in general, the collection turns next to the opening chapter ("Postsecular Young Adult Literature; [End Page 348] or, Harry Potter and the New Religious Landscape") by Paul T. Corrigan, who investigates scholars' heterogeneous characterizations of postsecularism. Corrigan concludes that "Concepts of the postsecular emerge out of, and in an attempt to understand, the new, messy religious landscape in which we find ourselves … consistent with its understanding that pluralism, science, and other facets of modernism would exert an effect, the world is not always religious in the traditional ways. Post-secular theory works to make sense of all this…. postsecular literature doesn't just explore the postsecular; it also enacts it" (16). True to this last statement, the rest of the thirteen essays probe the complex approaches of contemporary YA fiction writers from both traditional and nontraditional religious perspectives, with impressive coverage of both YA literature and religious plurality. Focusing on traditional religions of all types, and in no particular order, the essay authors cover YA literature's engagement with Islam (Fatema Johera Ahmed's "Young Adult Fiction, Diaspora and the 'Muslim' Question: A Study of Faith and Feminism in Randa Abdel-Fattah's Novels"), Judaism (Patricia F. D'Ascoli's "Learning to Be Jewish in The Truth About My Bat Mitzvah and Confessions of a Closet Catholic), Quakerism (Katelyn R. Browne's "'Stick up for these crazy stupid things': Emily Horner's Queer Quaker Road Trip Novel"), Hinduism (Rizia Begum Lakskar's "Performing God: Kiran and Krishna in Rakesh Satyal's Blue Boy), Taoism (David S. Hogsette's "The Way of the Fantasist: Ethical Complexities in the Taoist Mythopoeic Fantasy of Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea), and Christianity (Erin Wyble Newcomb's "The Language of Magic and Prayer: Intercession in the Works of Merrie Haskell" and Susan Leigh Brooks's "The Book Worlds of Nikki Grimes: An Invitation to Dialogic Reading"). Other essays investigate religious extremism (Carissa Turner Smith's "Postsecular Cosplay, Fundamentalism and Martyrdom in Gene Luen Yang's Boxers and Saints) and self-made spirituality outside mainstream religion (Stratman's "The Customized Religion: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, American Teenagers and Pete Hautman's Godless). Essays on the novels of N. D. Wilson (by Jeremy Larson), Brian Meehl (by Carrie Myers) and Gene Luen Yang (by Shih-Wen Sue Chen) round out the volume. The coverage is impressive and immerses the reader in a plethora of literary texts, religious perspectives, and engaging arguments. Furthermore, despite the large number of essays there is a common approach to every essay and engagement with postsecular theory at some level, a unity not always found in such collections. This is because Stratman guided contributors through three or four common questions (2) to achieve an impressive concord of conversation despite the variety of topics. The contributors' backgrounds are almost as richly diverse as the...

Carbon cycling in the mantled karst of the Ozark Plateaus, central United States

The nature of carbon (C) cycling in the unsaturated zone where groundwater is in contact with abundant gas-filled voids is poorly understood. The objective of this study was to trace inorganic-C cycling in a karst landscape using stable-C isotopes, with emphasis on a shallow groundwater flow path through the soil, to an underlying cave, and to the spring outlet of a cave stream in the Ozark Plateaus of northwestern Arkansas. Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and isotopic composition (δ13C-CO2) in gas and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentration and isotopic composition (δ13C-DIC) in water were measured in samples collected from two suction-cup soil samplers above the cave, three sites in the cave, and at the spring outlet of the cave stream. Soil-gas CO2 concentration (median 2,578ppm) and δ13C-CO2 (median −21.5‰) were seasonally variable, reflecting the effects of surface temperature changes on soil-CO2 production via respiration and organic-matter decomposition. Cave-air CO2 (median 1,026ppm) was sourced from the soil zone and the surface atmosphere, with seasonally changing proportions of each source controlled by surface temperature-driven air density gradients. Soil-DIC concentration (median 1.7mgL−1) was lower and soil-δ13C-DIC (median −19.5‰) was lighter compared to the cave (median 23.3mgL−1 and −14.3‰, respectively) because carbonate-bedrock dissolution provided an inorganic source of C to the cave. Carbon species in the soil had a unique, light stable-C isotopic signature compared to the cave. Discrimination of soil-C sources to karst groundwater was achieved, which is critical for developing hydrologic budgets using environmental tracers such as C.

The Mating System and Reproductive Life History of Female Timber Rattlesnakes in Northwestern Arkansas

Vertebrate mating strategies and life history patterns show great variation within and among species. Variation in reproductive tactics results from a combination of phylogenetic and environmental factors, and detailed natural and life history data among taxa are required to provide a comparative perspective or to infer evolutionary forces. Collection of such data in secretive species can often only be accomplished through long-term monitoring or the use of molecular tools. We used a combination of monitoring via radiotelemetry and microsatellite DNA markers to describe the reproductive ecology of a population of Timber Rattlesnakes, Crotalus horridus, in northwestern Arkansas. Female C. horridus in northwestern Arkansas were smaller at maturity and produce small litters compared to most estimates for other populations. Female snout–vent length and not the body condition of preparturient females was positively related to litter size and total litter mass. Both pregnant females and females found in associa...

History and Fall Migration of Northern Saw-Whet Owls (Aegolius acadicus) in Arkansas

The secretive Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) is believed to be much more widespread during fall and winter than previously thought in the southern United States. To see if they occur more frequently in Arkansas, we initiated a banding study in fall of 2014 in northwestern Arkansas. Prior to that, only 12 historic records existed for Arkansas between 1959 and 2010. Over the course of two field seasons, we captured and banded 24 Northern Saw-whet Owls in rural Madison County. All birds were mist-netted along a trail, in woodland composed of pine and cedar with fairly dense undergrowth. Two were captured during our 2014 season when we started in late November and 22 were captured between late October and early December in 2015. We also had at least 10 birds vocalizing at our site. It would appear that the peak of migration in Arkansas is late October through early November, with capture rates dropping off by early December. All but one of the captured birds were females, the most common sex this far south. There was a fairly even distribution of hatch-year, second year, and after-second-year birds and hatch-year birds and adults arrived at about the same time in late October and early November in 2015. Exactly where the owls are migrating from is unknown, although three foreign recoveries in Missouri and four recoveries in Arkansas suggest they are coming from the western Great Lakes region. Once considered a vagrant, based on our research, the Northern Saw-whet Owl appears to be an uncommon fall migrant, at least in the northwestern part of Arkansas. Comparing our data with that for central Missouri, about the same number of birds were captured at the same rates for about the same length of time, suggesting that Northern Saw-whet Owls are probably more common in the Ozarks than previously thought.

Impacts of Man-Made Structures on Avian Community Metrics in 4 State Parks in Northwestern Arkansas

Avian community metrics often differ between areas with no human disturbance and areas with high levels of human disturbance. However, the relationships between avian community metrics and smaller-scale disturbances are not as clear. Our goal was to investigate if avian abundance, richness, evenness, and diversity differed in areas with and without small-scale human developments. We used fixed-radius 50-m avian point counts to compare points which contained a man-made structure (n = 47), such as a picnic area, road, or campsite to those that did not contain a man-made structure (n = 181) at 4 state parks in Arkansas during 18 May – 7 August 2015. We used paired t-tests to compare points at the park scale and one-way ANOVAs or Kruskal-Wallis tests to investigate differences among the hiking and biking trails within parks. At the park scale, avian abundance (t₃ = -1.44, P = 0.246), richness (t₃ = ˗0.86, P = 0.453), diversity (t₃= 2.02, P = 0.137), and evenness (t₃ =˗0.37, P = 0.733) did not differ between points containing man-made structures and points without man-made structures. Species richness (F1,11 = 5.03, P= 0.047) and diversity (X^2₁ = 4.20, P = 0.040) were higher at points with man-made structures (Simpson’s D mean = 0.13 ± 0.01SE; S mean = 8.99 ± 0.70SE) at Pinnacle Mountain than points without man-made structures (Simpson’s D mean = 0.18 ± 0.03SE; S mean = 7.17 ± 0.47SE); abundance (F₁, ₁₁ = 1.43, P =0.257) and evenness (F₁, ₁₁ = 0.16, P = 0.695) did not differ among points. Within the 3 remaining parks, abundance (F₁,7-9 = 0.11 – 2.59, P = 0.152 – 0.748), richness (χ^2 ₁ = 0.300 – 1.68, P = 0.195 – 0.584), diversity (χ2 = 0.300 – 1.05, P = 0.305 – 0.584; F₁,7 =1.82, P = 0.219) and evenness (F₁,7-9 = 0.35 – 4.28, P =0.077 – 0.570) did not differ between points with and without man-made structures. Given the results of our analyses both at the park scale and within parks, it appears that small-scale man-made disturbances may have limited or no impact on avian community metrics.

Unusual Concentration of Summer Tanagers (Piranga rubra) in Northwestern Arkansas during Winter 2015-2016

Unusual Concentration of Summer Tanagers (Piranga rubra) in Northwestern Arkansas during Winter 2015-2016